Sacrifice
by checkmate14
Summary: Bruce Banner has a hold on the Hulk, but not yet on himself. Bruce is angry, and Tony is vulnerable.


**AN: This is pretty dark, I'm warning you. Nevertheless, enjoy! :)**

**P.S. I now have an AO3 account! Woo! If you want to hang out over there, I am _checkmate_ there :)**

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"Banner, what are you doing? Banner! Calm down! _Bruce_!"

Bruce ignored him. Bruce ignored everyone. Just like he always did. He kept walking forward, step by step, one foot then the other, closer and closer to the wall of the living room on the top floor of the tower. Only when the other man had his back pressed against the bricks did Bruce stop, their noses practically touching.

"Banner- Bruce, please, stop!" He whimpered, as Bruce held him against the wall firmly with one arm.

"Shhhh…" He murmured in Tony's ear. "Shhhh, it's all going to be okay…" Bruce reached down with his right hand, and took Tony's left in it. "Shhhhhh…" He repeated.

Tony screamed for help, but it was futile. There was nobody to hear him. The tower was empty. They were alone.

Bruce squeezed his hand tightly, and covered Tony's mouth with his own, pushing his tongue into his boyfriend's mouth forcefully. Tony didn't resist. A faucet across the room was leaking, Tony noticed.

Drip after drip after drip.

After a minute or so, Bruce pulled off just a little, his lips still ghosting the skin across Tony's cheeks, down his neck, to his collarbone. "I thought I told you to be quiet, Stark. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, I promise. Just stay quiet, okay? Please? For me?"

Tony nodded fervently, fearfully, and Bruce took a further step back, moving the arm that was fixing Tony to the wall to release him a little. This time, Tony obediently stayed silent; his eyes were wide and full of the panic that he dare not express out loud.

Bruce lifted the hand that he still held up to his eye level, and examined it closely. "You're so beautiful, Tony, you know that? _So. Beautiful._ Why would I ever let you leave me?" Tony could only follow Bruce with his eyes, totally supplicant to Bruce's every whim. "I am going to keep you forever. _So. Fucking. Beautiful."_

Tony's heartbeat had tripled during the exchange. He was sure that Bruce would be able to hear it pounding in his chest. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum.

Bruce took just Tony's left middle finger between his index finger and thumb, and maintained a vice-like grip on his wrist with his other hand as he bent the finger back slowly. He didn't need to watch what he was doing. There was too much to see elsewhere.

Sadness. Pain. Guilt. Longing. Desperation. Fear. Horror. Realisation.

A full spectrum of human emotion flashed across Tony's face, as his finger reached an angle perpendicular to the back of his hand, and Bruce didn't stop. There was crunch, Bruce knew there was. There always was. It was one of his favourite noises in the world. But he didn't hear it today. Not this time. He didn't hear it over the scream which burst from Tony's mouth as the bone in his finger shattered under Bruce's ministrations.

The sound was better than music to Bruce. It was so beautiful, he couldn't even be angry at Tony for not following his request for silence. "Shhhhhhh," he chided softly. "You're okay, Tony. Everything is going to be fine."

Tears were streaking down Tony's face as he tried to stifle his sobs, as he tried to be strong. Bruce looked down at him, slumped against the wall in pain, his face twisted into a smile, his eyes flashing in the low light.

_Beautiful_.

He lifted the hand to his mouth, and he laid feather light kisses on the skin, already beginning to turn red. Tony cried out again, trying to pull further from Bruce, despite the impediment of the wall behind him.

He moved from the middle finger to Tony's ring finger, and planted kisses there too, before biting it harshly, breaking the skin. "Tony…" He cooed under his breath. "I love you, you know that? I always will. I love you."

And he pulled it back with no warning.

Bruce could hear the crunch that time. Not a sound left Tony's mouth, as he crumpled to the floor.

Bruce knelt. Checked his pulse. Just unconscious. Passed out from the pain.

He smiled, satisfied. He didn't expect him to give in so easily, but there was nothing Bruce liked more in this situation than to be proved wrong, and Tony had played his part admirably.

"Good night, Tony." He whispered towards the unresponsive body splayed on the floor. "Good night, my love."

* * *

Tony awoke, and his head was pounding, there was a distinct lack of people in the tower and his left hand felt like it was on fire. He glanced at the burning skin. It was swollen, and bruised, and the tip of his fourth finger was bent over in a way that he was sure was not supposed to happen.

"Bruce." He whispered. He tried to move his fingers, and gasped as a sharp pain shot across up his third and fourth. "Bruce." He repeated. He couldn't contain the tears, and he wept, and wept, and wept.

There was someone in the doorway when he eventually looked up again.

"Tony, I-"

Tony shook his head automatically, as Bruce helped him sit up, and handed him an ice pack. Tony held it against the swelling, and let out a small sigh.

Bruce couldn't look at him.

"Did you- Did the Other Guy- Last night?" Tony said hesitantly. Bruce shook his head, and Tony smiled through the pain. "Good."

Bruce shook his head furiously. "Tony, this has to stop."

"No, it doesn't."

"_I broke two of your fingers!" _ Bruce screamed.

"And I don't care!" Tony yelled back. "No-one got hurt."

Bruce glared from him, to the ice on his hand. "_You_ got hurt, Tony. And you might not care about yourself, but I do. I can't keep doing this to you. I'm going to kill you one day."

"I don't care. We've been through this."

"Tony, me occasionally throwing a punch at you is one thing. This is something else completely." Bruce protested. "Can you imagine how guilty I feel now? And how guilty I would feel if you died because of me?"

"Other people _aren't _dying because of me." Tony said under his breath, but Bruce heard him, and guilt flashed across his face.

Because in the end, Bruce couldn't deny that. Because Tony knew that he could possibly die every time Bruce got a little angry. Because Tony knew that it was getting increasingly likely.

But he stayed with him anyway.

Because in Tony's mind, protecting people from the Hulk was his number one job.

And 'people' _always_ included Bruce.

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**AN: Reviews are love and stuff.**


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